What Does It Takes To Be Accepted Into The Bike Shed Show?

Bike Shed Show London is the biggest independent motorcycle show in the world. The show gathers bike riders, coolest bike builders and everyone who is passionate about motorcycles and enjoys hanging out with like-minded people. Pando Ace member Youtuber Jish relives the whole journey before his first ever bike built project CB125 was presented in the show!

MY FIRST PROJECT BIKE

When I was a kid, my grandad would take me to his brother’s farm, to watch the other kids ride trials. I soon fell in love with these two wheeled objects that could be delicately manoeuvred over rocks and through streams. After begging my grandad to let me ride he surprised me with my first motorbike. It was a Yamaha TY80 trials and right then I was the happiest boy alive! Fast forward 15 years after owning various trials bikes, many cars that I messed with and modified, I found myself wanting to build a bike for the road. I started searching for a cheap project bike on eBay and soon found this “spares or repairs” 1977 Honda CB125. So that was it, I had bought my first project bike.

BUILDING IT IN THE LIVING ROOM

The bike building was all new to me and there was lots for me to learn. After collecting the bike, and finding out it was in much worse condition than expected, I really had my work cut out! It had very dodgy wiring, multiple parts missing and a few items the previous owner had added. From all the excitement of buying this bike, and the prospect of building a Cafe Racer, I overlooked one massive issue, I had nowhere to build this bike. So, here’s the funny part – I wrestled the bike up a flight of stairs to my apartment, as that was the only place I could keep and work on the bike, that’s how determined I was to build this bike, I was going to build it in my living room.

THE ROBBERY

After 6 months of building the CB125 in my living room, I managed to move the bike into a better workshop, a place dedicated to the bike build. Everything was going really well, I was enjoying making the videos, until one day, one week after getting the bike running and taking it for its test ride, we got broke into. The bike was thrown over and I had my tools stolen. This really knocked my motivation down, and I lost pretty much all interest in the bike. Things didn’t look good with the build.

ACCEPTED INTO THE SHOW and BIKE WASN’T ANYWHERE NEAR FINISHED

After a few months away from the bike and not filming, I found some time to pull off the dust covers and fix the things that had been broken from the break in, this gave me the positivity I needed to get stuck back in! After 4 months of carrying on with the build and videos, I was given the news my bike was accepted into The Bike Shed London show. This was pretty crazy, yet amazing, as they only accept 100 bikes and mine wasn’t anywhere near finished! This gave me a huge motivation push to crack on and get the bike built.

With only 5 weeks to get the bike finished, I had my work cut out for me. The tank needed painting and all parts needed powder coating, plus a huge list of jobs I needed to tackle, I decided to call out for some help to get the bike done for the show, and none other than For The Bold – Dreegez stepped up and came to help; The person who inspired me to build this bike, helped me finish the bike! It was such a surreal moment for me meeting him in person after watching his videos for so many years.

MY FIRST EVER BIKE BUILD

I managed to get the bike finished with only a day to spare. This included fabricating the exhaust and fitting all the freshly powder coated parts. I felt good with the bike being done, and this meant it was time for the 3 hour long drive down to London. We arrived on the evening and dropped the bike off at the venue; all the other shed build bikes there looked spectacular. It was so surreal having my bike there, my first ever bike build, amongst all these other beautifully crafted machines that people had put countless hours, if not years into.

The next day when the show opened to the public, I was astounded to find so many people looking over, and loving my bike! Many people pointed out the details of the laser etched seat I had made, because of how unique it was. The sense of accomplishment was overwhelming and it’s something I will never forget.